「What is the typical price that Magic Crystals can be sold for?」
「Green are usually worth 10,000 Nars, and as for the yellow ones, it should be 100,000 Nars.」
Normally we can assume that one slain monster equals 1 Nar, so Green Magic Crystal would equal 10,000 monsters. With my current multiplier of x32, or x64 if I will ever need it, it is more efficient way of making money than selling the items that drop from the monsters.
In order to make a lot of money I can use Crystal Acceleration, getting stronger is covered by Skills that will increase the amount of the EXP I'll gain from killing enemies, and for fighting against strong enemies I have Durandal from the Bonus Weapons Skill. I'm doing pretty well for myself, all thing's considered. And since I am not exactly in dire need of getting more money for the current moment, so I think I can remove Crystal Acceleration for now, and instead focus on gaining more EXP points and keeping Durandal on me, so I did just that by performing another Character Reset.
While scrolling through the list of Bonus Skills, I happened upon three curious ones: Break Level Limit, Break Damage Limit and Party Data Release. When it comes to the first two I can roughly understand what they are about, but it's not like I had any problem with my damage threshold or the ability to Level Up, but what is this Party Data Release one supposed to be doing? As long as I was going solo things like that didn't really matter to me, but now that I've made a Party with Roxanne, maybe there are some restrictions placed upon us? Maybe I should take a moment to actually test it out?
I tapped the Party Date Release window.
Immidiately after that, the Party Settings screen got refreshed. Looks like some new options have been added to it, and to the bonus Spell list as well. It now contains something called… Par,ti, fi, cation. Partification? What the hell is that? Something related to the Party, maybe? Or something related to its organization? Well, no harm in checking it out I guess.
Another change that took place was in the Bonus Skills menu. The Job Settings have been replaced with Party Job Settings. So, a new option that looks like a variation of the old one. As long as I have no idea how it works, taking it through a trial by fire seems to be the most logical conclusion. You'll never know how something works if you don't witness it with your own eyes, am I right?
Partification!
When I thought about it, a new window popped up, asking me to do something. The exact text in the window was 「 『 』 use」. What does it want from me? An item? Or maybe something else? Could it be that Partification is a spell that spreads the effect of an item to the entire Party?
「Roxanne, do you feel like there was any change in you just now?」
「Hmm, no, I don't think so. Why do you ask?」
So it does not look like there were any changes to Roxanne's status, meaning that the change occurs only for the user. Well, that was to be expected I guess. Good thing that she does not seem to realize what I'm doing though.
Next, I focused my gaze on Roxanne and thought about the Party Job Settings. In the next second, a full list of her Jobs appeared before me.
Beast Warrior Lv.6, Villager Lv.8, Farmer Lv.1, Warrior Lv.1, Swordsman Lv.1, Adventurer Lv.1
So those are all the Jobs she managed to obtain, huh? It's great that she doesn't have a Thief Job or anything else like that. This means that before she became a slave she led a proper, pure life where she didn't have to resort to criminal acts just to see another day.
Beast Warrior Lv.6
Effects: Medium AGI Increase, Small STR Increase, Small DEX Increase
Skill: Beast Attack
The Beast Warrior Job seems to have a very good effect and her stats are decent, so I think she can continue with this one as she was. Speaking of it, aside from my Hero Job, the effects of Swordsmen and Warrior are not terrible, but they are not mind-blowingly good either.
Yup, for now we can continue adventuring without making any alterations.
The ability to change the Job of your Party members can prove to be a very powerful Skill, depending on how you will use it of course. Regrettably, however, the Character Reset did not result in Roxanne's Character Reset as well.
As a Party we can now conserve MP by travelling together and dispatch enemies way faster due to not being alone on the battlefield anymore. I guess noticing that Skill and unlocking it when I did might actually turn up the be one of the best decision I made here so far.
「Now, the only remaining issue would be recovery.」
「Recovery? As in healing?」
「Yup. Are there any Jobs that have Skills or spells capable of healing?」
I asked Roxanne.
For now we are not in that much of a dire need to get ourselves some method of healing because Durandal can essentially one-shot everything it comes into contact with, but there will eventually come a time where healing will become a necessity, I am sure of it. Remembering how I panicked back in that monster-filled trap room, we should always have a quick and reliable method of recovering our lost HP from any kind of attack and any number of enemies.
Durandal can circumvent that to a degree thanks to its HP Absorption effect, but that would only work for me if I was going to the Labyrinth solo. I could always hand Durandal to Roxanne is she was in a pinch, but that would in turn left me without any means of defending myself if I didn't have other weapons with me. Not to mention that such a method would simply be too uncertain and unreliable.
Even with my Durandal around we might not be one hundred percent safe. For example, if we were to end up in the middle of a particularly steamy battle with a lot of tough enemies, then throwing Durandal back and forth between Roxanne and me might be impossible. I've seen this kind thing in movies, games and anime. The moment the character gets confident that he'll be able to heal himself on time, he suffers a critical injury at that exact moment. Also, there will be times where we won't be able to wait with the healing for the battle to end, even if we stocked up on potions and other healing items.
So that settles it: one of my next goals should be securing myself a Job that can use healing!
「So, how about it? Any Jobs capable of healing that come to your mind?」
「Actually, I think there are Jobs capable of doing just that. If my memory serves me correctly, Priests and Monks are capable of using such Skills and spells.」
Oh, great, so there truly are Jobs like that. Good to hear. Now, if only I could obtain them without having to do anything tedious or time consuming, that would be even better.
「Well, do you know the details, like how can one become a Monk or a Priest?」
「I am certain that it requires large amounts of harsh training and iron-willed discipline.」
Wow, talk about a tone-setter. Anyway, let's try inquiring about that training bit some more, because Roxanne's initial description was awfully vague and suspiciously nonspecific.
「What kind of training, exactly?」
「There are many methods of going about it, and they seem to be varying depending on the Guild you visit, but I heard that the most common one is meditation under an ice-cold waterfall in order to rid oneself of one's earthly desires.」
「A waterfall, huh?」
「There is also one where you have to go visit eighty-eight temples to achieve the clarity of mind.」
「So a pilgrimage, then.」
「Pil… grimage?」
Roxanne asked, but I ignored her.
The way I see it, waterfall training is aimed at achieving spiritual enlightenment and tempering one's body so that it can endure the training in secret martial arts, which monks in video games are famously known for.
Giving it some thought, it should be obvious that obtaining a Job that's clearly tied to faith and religion would be connected to some mystical experience such as meditation or visiting highly spiritual places in pilgrimage.
You become a thief when you steal things, and get to be an Explorer once you enter the Labyrinth. Using magic attacks will net you the Job of a Mage, and reaching enlightenment seems to be required in order to become a Monk or a Priest.
Anyway, looks like getting one of those might be more difficult than I initially thought. For the time being, let's see if the simple act of prayer is going to do the trick.
「A~no ~ku~ma~ra~san~mya~ku~san~bo~dai. Amu namida butsu. Elohim essaim, allah akbar, amen.」
I checked my Job Settings, but no new Jobs appeared there. Hmm, maybe I'm not praying hard enough? I will try praying harder.
「Rin, Byo, to…」
But with each verse I recited, I was feeling more and more like an idiot.
「Ygnaiih… Ygnaiih, thflthkh'ngha! Ph'nglui…Ph'nglui… On Sochirishuta Sowaka. Wgah'nagl fhtagn!」
Oh no, this is bad. I feel like… as if something was awakening in the deepest recesses of my ignorant mind! Now come on Roxanne, come and join me in singing praises to the Great Ones!
「Nyar shthan, Nyar gashanna!」
Note to self: religion is scary as shit and it's best to stay as far away from it as possible.